Chicago hotels near Harold Washington Library Center

Cons: At first the lobby seemed a little formal to me, but after I saw that a coffee shop and sitting area were on the floor just below, the lobby made sense to me as it was very easy to navigate and functional, and the more cozy atmosphere was left to the area below.

Cons: I was not told that the reservation was moved to the Hilton. I got to my hotel late and it was on a small paper on the door. After then getting to the Hilton, the front desk attendant was in the back and I had the shout HELLO for 15 minutes until she came to check me in. During that she told me there would be a grab and go breakfast starting at 6am. I went down at 6:20 and there was nothing so I’m unsure what was going on with that: but there was a very large line of people and no one at the front desk yet again.

Cons: It is over priced. We had to pay and additional $17 for parking overnight in an unsecured parking lot. Needless to say there are no views since it is close to MDW airport, which is why I think it is so overpriced. There was no bottled water in the room. Typically, most hotels provide 1 or 2 complementary bottled waters. I had to call the front desk three times to verify the check out time and kept getting placed on hold.

Cons: Their “smart thermostat” shut off during the night making it unbearably hot. I called. She said no maintenance and tried to explain what a smart thermostat is. I just wanted to sleep and told her that. She said flip the switch to the half moon. That doesn’t exist. She lied to get me off the phone then kept putting me on hold when I tried to call back. Only way I could get the air to stay on was to keep a light on. Super awful way to spend a night and that money. Probably switching to Marriott.

Cons: Stuff in room was broken....shower handles for example. No linens on pullout and took an hour to get some. Overall just good....not going to be the most memorable but it was ok

Cons: room refrigerator wasn't working properly

Cons: The only down side, if one can call it such, is the location. The hostel resides in a very nice neighborhood. I was not concerned about safety. However, this nice neighborhood is about fifteen minutes from the city center. You will end up riding the subway a lot.

Cons: Everyone was friendly and respectable

Cons: Nothing displeased me.

Cons: Nothing

Cons: I really didn't like that no one had informed me that the free airport shuttle stops running at 2am, when my flight was delayed and I didn't arrive until after that, especially after having called the hotel beforehand to make sure I would still have a ride. Neither their own website, nor kayak, nor booking.com had this informations. This was one of the main reasons I chose this hotel, and after having spent all evening and most of my night traveling, this was the absolute last thing I needed to be worrying about, was safe transportation at 3am.

Cons: Noise from the party room and bar downstairs until 2:00 a.m. Do not take a room on the 2nd floor, particularly on a weekend. I spoke on several occassions with the manager, who indicated that because we booked a room via Kayak he would not move us without paying an additional $50.

Cons: No ventilation in bathrooms or room in general. No way to open a window either. The air was so dry, then after a shower, too humid because you'd to leave the door open or else you'll pass out in a warm-hot shower temperature. Switching the temperature back & forth to find a comfortable climate was tedious and the air stale. It made us so dreary and uncomfortable we shortened our stay to 2 nights instead of 3.

Cons: Stay too short

Cons: Would have liked to have seen cameras in the parking lot but definitely not a deal breaker

Cons: If your room is over the side of the building with the Bar you hear the DJ and Music very very loudly even on 3rd floor On a sunday night from 6pm-1130pm Very disruptive - louder than tv or radio - could hear in the shower. No other choices within walking distance for shops or food Without shuttle or a car you are limited to what is in the hotel.

Cons: There was a fan in the bathroom which I couldn't turn off, it ran all night, so no sleep. No TV channel listing, no wifi instructions or security. TV reception was terrible on all channels. Vending machines sold out on multiple floors. Staff was slow and rude.

Cons: air conditioner was loud

Cons: I had no complaints.

Cons: The food at the bar was below average. There wasn't any place close by so I decided to eat there. Still, I don't think I will eat there again. Room was great for the price.

Cons: There seemed to be a bad water leak in the 4th floor at the ice machine. We reported it but it did not seem that they pay much attention. However, we stayed for only one night so I cannot tell for sure if they did not fix it.

Cons: The shuttle service was very unreliable, almost made us late for our flight out of Chicago. The location wasn't that great.

Cons: Valet parking is in fact $57 per night with in and out service but there are ways to park cheaper in the garage next to the hotel where they'd put your car anyways. Updates to the rooms and hotel are mostly nice but not perfect. There was some very obvious water damage to the walls under the windowsills in our room. Trying to catch one of the 2 tiny elevators at a busy time can suck. If everybody is waiting for the already full elevators, chances are they will stop on almost every floor on the way down even though there is no more room. Have to keep in mind that this is a very old hotel and there likely isn't room for larger elevators.

Cons: The front desk staff were clipped and curt, which was unexpected, and made for a chilly welcome to the Windy City. As mentioned, the room was darker than expected, and the two outlets for charging equipment were located along the far wall, underneath the desk, which had a drawer that would not close. This drawer's corners caused several near-accidents, unsurprisingly. The bathroom was clean and pleasantly designed, but very small. We were dissatisfied with the room service and front desk experience. When we ordered breakfast, we expected more than a few eggs on an English muffin, and we received two small scones, rather than our order of a scone and a croissant. When this was mentioned at checkout, I was told that a manager would give me a call, which never happened.

Cons: We've stayed at almost every 4 and 5 star hotel in Chicago so we have a lot to compare this to. Whitehall by far is the worst of the best. Service was average, didn't feel like the employees truly cared about our experience but were just going trough the motions of what they were told to do. Minibar was super annoying, it had a lock on it that could only be unlocked remotely by the front desk and when we called to ask they couldn't do it bc they were busy with another customer and then forgot altogether. It also auto charges when you touch anything, even just placing our son's milk into the fridge caused a charge. A 4 star hotel should eliminate these types of annoyances. Rooms are very snug and beds are queen size.

Cons: The glasses inside of the room had lipstick on them. I reported this to the lady behind the desk and I do not think she believed me. She gave me a pack of plastic cups and sent me on my way. This was fine but the reaction was not as I expected. It was as if dirty dishes in the room was a common occurrence. The pillows felt worn out and chunky, the bed was very hard (good for me, not the others in the group) and the lighting needs improvement. It felt like I was a cave dweller the entire stay. The fitness room was an absolute joke. Rusted benches, worn down treadmills and a filthy environment. Whitehall really dropped the ball on the only amenity offered. The lack of care and passion put into the hotel will be the reason I do not return. I suggest you do the same.

Cons: We will definitely stay in the North side of town again, but definitely never booking the Whitehall ever again & we are never prepaying for a hotel ever again, unless we have stayed there in the past & we already know what we are booking. Had we not prepaid for the hotel we would have checked out & booked another hotel. We Checked in at around 2pm Dec 26th for a 6 night stay. First room we got on 8th floor modern decor but was not as the one we expected from the pictures, it was a 3star room because the bathroom was big & definitely worthy of a 4star, but room was not. Even in the dim light we could see the walls & furniture were old, once we used our cell flash lights to see better in the room, the walls were scary. And there was a wall just 2 ft away from our window, so even in the day no natural light came in. we tried it for a few hrs but we felt like we were being enclosed & we had 7 days to go & we were there on our 10th yr wedd annv. So at around 7pm, we called front desk, Rebecca was super nice, we requested if we could get a room that was not facing a wall, just something that had a view to the outside world. We got mover to room on the 19th floor, bathroom was small, but room was bigger in size, but worse in décor & condition. Traditional décor, but not in a good way, even more older furniture and walls than first room, & bed frame & fixtures had a layered of dust, as if no one had cleaned it in 10yrs. And I found a woman's sweater and hair wig in the closet. Lets just say the only area I felt okay to get undressed was the bathroom as this was the only 4star worthy part of the room.The only reason why we stayed in this new room is because the room was a corner room away from the main hallway, which seemed a lot safer, being that this hotel did not seem safe at all & the hallways & elevator are super narrow & small & seem taken out of an episode from the "Twilight Zone". Hallway walls are old & musky, elevator even had tagging, I never stay at a hotel that's less than 3stars, never had seen this type of condition in any of the hotels I have stayed. And in past 10yrs we have vacation 2-3 times a yr. Not sure how they have manage to keep a 4star rating. The only 4star worthy of this hotel is the bathrooms in rooms, hotel restaurant, & hotel staff. Rebecca gave us a nice letter and vouchers (we only used the breakfast voucher) to apologize for the hair wig & sweater, but the damage was more than done. We had a hard time even being in our hotel room, before our trip we had originally planned to spend more time relaxing in hotel, but definitely we ended up trying to be out of our hotel as much as possible. If they had 4star rooms elsewhere in the hotel, then we did not stay in one, which again does not make this a 4star hotel because a 4star hotel should have all rooms in 4star condition starting from their smallest deluxe rooms all the way up to their suites. Unacceptable, if anything they are a 2 1/2 to 3star hotel.

Cons: We got to the Whitehall around 6:30PM on Friday night, to find one of the automatic doors to enter was not working correctly. Next up: one of the elevators (of only 2 tiny elevators) was broken down. Everything had a luster of the past, but needed updating, cleaning, replacing, etc. In our room, the carpet was stained and one of our sheets had a hole in it. To add insult to injury, of the 2 phones in the bedroom, one didn't work at all, and the other only worked if you pressed 0. (ie, none of the corresponding keys to concierge etc worked). The shower faucet where you adjust the temperature was also broken - as it was loose and hard to finagle into getting a temperature that didn't scald or freeze you. And maybe the worst of all? We had gone out for brunch on Saturday, and come back, said we didn't want to be disturbed, but then, while we were napping, someone CAME INTO OUR ROOM without knocking to check our minibar!!! What?! Who does this!?!? This hotel is 2 star-worthy, not 4. They need to SERIOUSLY up their game or deal with reality. Also - we were charged for 2 items (a granola bar and candy bar) that we didn't even take. The lady said "sometimes touching something in the minibar triggers these prices). I said "that would make sense if either thing were even *in* the minibar!" So, there you go. That's the truth of the place. Judge for yourself.

Cons: All of our room requests were ignored. We asked for a quiet room with one queen sized bed. This was confirmed at more than one point, including when we checked in at the front desk. However, we received a room with two full-sized beds. Not a huge deal, but why ask if it's going to be disregarded? Also, our room was street side and thus very noisy all night. When we tried to call the front desk from the hotel phone in our room, it kept forwarding us to a message center, so we never got to talk to a real person. Despite these things, we enjoyed our stay overall.

Cons: The bed was squeaky whenever we rolled over in the night, but it was really comfortable despite that. I can't complain for the free upgrade to a suite!